So Steam has this new thing on Greenlight called Concepts. It allows you to get your game in front of the Steam community. It doesn’t help you get your game greenlit, but it’s also free, and free is about all I can afford now.
I want Planitia up there. The majority of people I’ve told about the game have been very encouraging; I want to gauge that reaction on a wider scale. With the hope that I might be able to roll into a Kickstarter or something similar if there’s enough interest.
Well, according to Steam, to put up my game I should have:
- A square branding image (similar to a box cover) to represent the game in lists and search
- At least 1 video showing off the game or presenting your concept
- At least 4 screenshots or images
- A written description of the game along with the tentative system requirements.
That seems simple enough. Of course, I can’t do anything to promote the game (really) until I get the temp art I’ve been using out. (Icons from Populous II are a leetle too easy to spot, you know?)
So, in addition, here’s what I feel I need to get Planitia in visible shape:
- Get animated villagers in.
- Swap out in-game icons for the god powers and soldiers for ones either I’ve created or (better) are free.
- Get rocks and trees in (fortunately I already have these models).
My deadline for this is end-of-day Monday. By then I want this game up on Concepts. I’ll be blogging the process. Wish me luck.
Have you ever considered doing work other than games?
I’ve read over bits and pieces of your story here and it just looks to me like someone stuck in a rut and digging themselves deeper and deeper while endlessly trying the same things that haven’t worked. I see references to physical health problems and of course don’t know much about the details there, but it would not suprise me if a largely sedenary occupation makes such things worse.
If I was to actually suggest something, the first thing I would mention is that the unemployment rate in North Dakota is somewhere around nonexistent right now, and you don’t need to be a trained and certified technician in the oil industry to get work there – although even that isn’t hard to get to; what I keep hearing is that they have big problems getting people who can think straight and show up at work on time and not fail drug tests, and anyone who can pass those qualifications is desperately needed. But also, janitors or truck drivers or cleaning staff or restaurant staff or construction or any number of support positions; they need people for everything. Of course a lot of those jobs don’t mean sitting around all day. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
My own experience with extended unemployment was that it lasted precisely as long as I was willing to let it last, and when I got it through my head that I really needed to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get money to put food on the table, the situation changed, because I was willing to look at possibilities I wouldn’t have otherwise. That also happened to be when I gave up on working in gaming ever again. Second best decision I ever made (the best being to quit college and take the game job in the first place).
I don’t mean to discourage you – success is 99% perspiration and all that – but sometimes it’s worth closing the book on past efforts.
This is a serious question that is worthy of a serious response.
I understand where you are coming from. I too have found myself becoming willing to take on jobs I would not have before in dire situations. Hey, I worked food service for ten years before teaching myself enough C++ to finally break into programming.
The problem is that I have a family of five to support, not just myself. I also have an autistic son whose medications can be quite expensive, so minimum wage is not going to cut it. I’ve already given up on professional game development; for the last two years I’ve been doing corporate projects.
But if you’re suggesting that I give up on programming altogether…I don’t know if I can. I learned programming as a skill because I thought it would be useful perpetually in the future, and I still believe it is. And it’s really the only skill I’ve got; it’s either that or minimum-wage unskilled labor.
Your jabs about sitting being bad for my health are pointed, but true. I am aware of this, which is why I’m more active than I used to be.
BUT.
All that is fairly irrelevant to what I’m doing with Planitia. Even if I do get a job in a completely different field, I am going to program games in my spare time. I did it before I got into game development, I’m doing it now, and I think I always will. Plus, I feel Planitia is a game that really needs to be made; everyone I’ve told the concept to has been very supportive.
“My deadline for this is end-of-day Monday. By then I want this game up on Concepts. I’ll be blogging the process. Wish me luck.”
~cough~ It’s beginning of day Monday. Where’s the blogging? How’s your progress? 🙂
Silence, ground walker!